Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Antique or Vintage?

At an antique mall in Georgia, I found a wall-hanging sink with separate hot and cold faucets. It was kinda Art Deco looking, and the faucets looked like chrome - not nickel - with straight lines, no curves.

Does anybody know when the elusive "they" stopped making sinks with separate faucets?

We had a sink with separate faucets in my dorm room in college. That dorm was built in the '20s, I think. Boy was it hard to wash dishes in that thing ... which is why I piled all my dirty dishes underneath and never washed them. Yep, I was a great roommate. ;-)

yeah, I can't imagine filling the sink everytime you wash your hands. I guess they just used cold water most of the time back then. With furniture, I've heard it has to be 100 years or older to be antique, otherwise it's vintage? I don't know how old something has to be to be vintage though.

We have a sink such as the one you are describing in our house. It's in an addition that was added over the back porch. In the ceiling above this bathroom I found some old newsprint mixed in with the insulation and it had a date of April 23, 1925. It was from some news paper in Kansas City (which is a 3.5 hour drive away).

The 1926 addition to my house had 2 bathrooms both with wall hung, cast iron sinks. Both sinks had separate faucets for the hot and cold. Also, I still have and use the original 1895 marble vanity with under-mount sink in my bathroom. It too has 2 faucets. I’ve gotten so used to it that I don’t even think about it any more. I turn on both the hot and cold and “mix” in my hand. I think it was in the late 20s or early 30s that the nation trended towards chrome and away from nickel. Also, be aware that the faucets may not have standard threads where you hook the water up. In the 20s and before there was no standard among plumbing manufacturers for thread sizes. It can be frustrating at times.

I haven't actually bought this sink, but I'm thinking about getting my sister to buy it and bring it home for me. I'm thinking the separate faucets wouldn't be a problem, since the sink would be going in the half bathroom, where only minor hand-washing would be done anyway. It's $55.

My sis has lived in her house for 15 years and just two weeks ago we changed out the original sink and this was in the upstairs bathroom (the one with the tub). It just goes to show you can really make due with just about anything. Their bathroom downstairs had a more modern sink and so that is where they did all of their toothbrushing. Now they can do that upstairs and she is elated.

If you do get it ask about the mounting bracket. There should be a cast iron bracket as wide as the sink and about 4" high. The bracket mounts to the wall and then the sink hangs from it. If it doesn't come with the mounting bracket maybe ask for a discount. Also if it doesn't come with one, maybe try and find the bracket before you buy the sink.